Why do my guitar strings keep breaking? - The Truth 

usually i will keep tuning it and it will just break. for no apparent reason. i don't even feel any tension before it breaks. it's just "i don't want to live anymore" and POP there it goes.

I’ve broken the A string on my guitar 4 times in a row, and now I know why. Thank you 🙏

The "indestructible" Ernie Ball Paradigms lasted me for 12 days before the E string snapped. Let's see how their warranty works. Those strings should have 5 months warranty from breaking...

...Maybe it's the way I use a straight edge razor as a guitar pick... Nah it's because of my tuners.

In my experience the few times ive broken a string have been due to a burr on the saddle.Caused by the string moving through normal playing. When you change strings always check the saddles for sharp edges and file smooth with a tiny file.

Right on! Great content!

I play guitar every day and I broke a string only once during band rehearsal, I played on really old elixir polywebs. They were great but they break as easily as any other string. I realized lower action helps reducing string tension, and therefore reduces stress and string breakage. It also has to do with the saddle design. I believe that on tune-o-matic style bridge where strings rest on a sharp knife edge they are more likely to break than on hardtail bridge with fender -like individual saddles for each string, that's just my experience. Cheers.

Nicely explained. I've been kind of thinking along these lines myself and always bought the cheapest strings, although I admit that Elixir strings I bought last time took longer to start breaking. I tend to break A and D strings most, probably owing to my heavy rhythm playing. I have MiM Strat, Les Paul Traditional, and Yamaha (80-ies model with tune-o-matic bridge). Strat first breaks a string, LP right after Strat, and Yamaha, although having way more mileage than the other two guitars, lasts longest.

Last two packs of strings I’ve bought the thin e breaks after a day. The last one the ball end broke off??

Also congrats! Almost 100 subscribers for you! (while I just hit my 10th lmao) Been here since 9 subscribers!

Great video bud

Good video! I eat through strings. It is due to sweat and diet. I drink alot of coffee and stopped drinking it for a couple of weeks to see if it would help and it did, my hands where alot dryer and I also start using elixcers polyweb strings. I would get 3 to 4 gigs and a good bit of practice out of them. I start drinking alot of coffee again lately and I put a new set on before gig last night and the G snapped just at the end of the last song lol.

On my Squier CV Strat, my new high E strings still break immediately after changing them despite sanding down the burr at the bridge saddle. One whole step bend and it breaks. Is it possible that the tremolo block is causing some kind of impingement? Perhaps maybe I didn’t properly sand down the burrs or the string is just low quality? Thanks for the great, informative video!

I agree. If I change my strings the night before a gig...I'm good. The gig I will brick one within a couple days...maybe even the next day. I even tried a roller bridge. Only helped a little. Its my constant 16th note funk scratch on the top 3 or 4 strings that just eats strings. If I'm playing an unplugged electric I might break a few strings in a night, practicing at home

Yes a new way of looking at it! Buy cheap strings then chuck em after LOL! I was wondering if I too heavy playing, or pick too heavy? Im thinking maybe up grade to 12 gauge strings?

I tend to buy my guitar strings based on how good they feel initially and how long they retain that feel - I don't really break strings ever. Literally the only time I've ever broken a string was on the cheap starterpack Strat I started out with, which had ridiculously sharp edges on the saddles. Any other guitar I've owned, the strings got too tough and uncomfortable to play but never broke.

i always break the sixth string, it breaks on the saddle, where you adjust the intonation.( it is a les payl type bridge), i dont know if the bridge is too high, or i need to file the bridge where the e string is, or i need to hit the strings with less power

using to thick of a pick breaks strings more then anything else.. ever sence i went to .46mm picks i never break strings , and i can play any music i want to i dont break them

I'm no scientist either, but I think you're totally fucking right about the acidity/alkaline sweat thing. My sweat just fucks strings, always has. If I change my strings right before a gig, I'm good. But if I play for a couple hours, wait a couple days, and go back to the guitar - everything is rusty. Breaks start then (and usually, as you note, they're at the saddle). If I play a buddy's guitar, you can almost guarantee he's going to be changing strings that day or the next and complaining about rust. (I've rusted the shit out of all the metal parts on my guitars - the screws, the metal on the pickups, everything that's not stainless or chrome or whatever. The soapbar pickup on my well-used Mexican Tele is 100% shiny like the day I got it, though.) Maybe I just play too much. Years ago, I used to wipe my guitar down every time I played it and I even put mink oil on my strings to try to stop the oxidation. That messed with the tone and ruined the sustain. But I was a teenager with a Boss Metal Zone so I didn't care. Now that I play clean or only slightly overdriven most of the time, the mink oil just won't cut it any more. So, as you said, the best solution is to get cheap strings. They sound the same to me and they're gonna break anyway.

I keep breaking my high e (sometimes tuned to eb) string on my 7. It usually breaks in the middle (prolly sweat) of the string or a smidge away from the tuning peg (mystifying). Looks like I'm just gonna have to buy a crapload of high e-strings (I've been using 10s lately). Perhaps it could be because I aspire to perform intonated vibrato AFTER a whole step bend (semitone down and semitone up).

My first two E strings broke at the saddle while tuning. I didn't even get standard tuning before it broke. The next one, I was tuning standard, I bought a tougher e string. Didn't even reach standard E tuning before it snapped at the saddle... Again. So I ask for advice at the store and they game me a suggestion to wind the wire backwards. So I do it. I start tuning... And... It doesn't break at the saddle. It broke down by the bottom. Not at the ball. I assumed it was sharp so I sanded it down with super fine sandpaper. Hoping that would do the trick. Went and bought the strings I had last time. Winded the strings backwards. Did all that I did before and... Once again snaps before I can get it tuned. Broke at the ball. That's where I'm at now. Im thinking about buying a new drum set. I don't know what to do anymore.

I've snapped two new high E strings recently where the string wraps around the ball at the end. Is this a defect with the string or could something in the bridge be causing this?

Have you had any luck with coated strings lasting longer? I just got s set and we’ll see if that helps...

I always break high e i'm using 10-46 i tried ernie ball, D'addario, i send my electric guitar for a fret job because always breaks @ 15,16,17 fret onwards when doing a high bend they only last for 2 days

I wear sweat cuffs on mu wrists when I gig. They help alot.

Doesn’t matter what kind of strings I’m using, the high e strings always snaps. What’s weird is that it’s breaking right under where I bend, and only when I bend. There has to be something wrong with my technique. And ideas?

I fixed my 6th string every week... I don't know wht the hell is going on with my auston guitar....i brought it 1month ago......do have any solution ????????

I put a towal over the guitar to get the john cash scatch sound not realizing the towel was still moist. Snapped in 2 days from regular tuning. Meh, I know how to restring so.

My little e string keeps breaking. Maybe cause of factor 1, any suggestions on how to fix it?

Only 4th D string on my Tom Anderson (vintage tremolo bridge) keeps breaking 2-3 times a month :(

To me that happens also in winter when I don't sweat at all. It's interesting that this happens more on some guitars less on others. On my Schecter Hellraiser it doesn't happen too often, on my Ibanez Darkstone every 2 weeks if I play every day. I buy only china strings for that reason! Orphee, they're good enough and sound really ok. Mechanically I'd like to try a different bridge or string holders on my Ibanez, but I don't really know what replacements are 100% compatible there. Can someone suggest me anything? My bridge: goo.gl/photos/3i2Njmw38mVbN4vNA

I came here for help because I break strings ALL the time. Last night's gig, Set 1 broke one. Set 2 - broke one on my regular guitar and one on my spare. I keep wondering if it's how I strum (I play rhythm guitar so just strumming and fingerpicking) It drives me crazy. I did change to lighter gauge pick a while ago but that only was a temporary fix. I will try new strings every gig, but that's going to be costly.

There is one other way around the oxidation problem: coated strings. But the other factor is present even then

High E Strings on my Les paul keeps breakin after hour of playin it what's your tip?

I broke strings on Floyd Rose. How can i solve it? Im scared to dive. :'(

Plzz tell me my string breaks form the tunner pegs plzz help 😭😭

I keep breaking the first string, it just breaks when I finish playing, it just seems for no reason, Imagine, three sets of strings, they break every time for no apparent reason. Its not like I fiddle with the strings, I just tune it up, finish, release the string, and there it is, broken

M breaking g string at the mid of the head stock....Why...??

So there's nothinv wrong with my playing because i break lot of strings too, its just the guitar, thanks

My strings only ever break when I'm tuning down

String gauge also plays a factor the lighter the gauge the more susceptible it is to breaking.

If your hands are sweaty use finger gloves😂😂😂

Use rubber bands

Where tf can you buy strings for £3??

Bullshit strat saddles...